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ACM TechNews
World's Largest Quantum Computation Uses 84 Qubits
![[article image]](/system/assets/0000/6963/011212_D-Wave_quantum_computer.large.jpg?1326395287&1326395287 "Quantum computer")
A D-Wave quantum computer
Credit: D-Wave
D-Wave Systems' Zhengbing Bian and colleagues announced that they have carried out a calculation involving 84 qubits. The computation involved two-color Ramsey numbers, mathematical entities that are intimately connected with the emergence of order in disordered systems.
The team has calculated R(3,3) and R(m,2), where m equals 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The calculation for R(8,2) used 84 qubits, of which 28 were used in the computation and the rest for error correction, and it took just 270 milliseconds. The result is 8, which has been known for many years with the use of conventional methods.
"The R(8, 2) computation ... to the best of our knowledge is the largest experimental implementation of a scientifically meaningful quantum algorithm," the researchers note.
D-Wave Systems has been criticized for its approach to computing, known as adiabatic quantum computing, so the impressive achievement is a somewhat of a vindication for the company.
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